Gama Aviation Given Chance to Strengthen Air Ambulance Bid But Still Lost to 247 Aviation, Guernsey Court Hears

Gama Aviation was given a chance to strengthen its tender application for the Guernsey and Jersey air ambulance contract during the evaluation process but still scored lower overall than 247 Aviation, which was awarded the new contract, Guernsey's Royal Court heard. 247 Aviation's contract is due to begin in December.

Gama Aviation had held a five-year contract to provide emergency air ambulance services for both islands since August 2020, extended earlier this year while a new tender process was conducted. Both the States of Guernsey and Jersey decided to award the new agreement to 247 Aviation. Gama Aviation applied for a judicial review of the decision-making process, represented by Advocate Michael Adkins of Collas Crill, challenging the award on three grounds: an alleged breach of transparency related to a late change in aircraft requirements in Jersey, a lack of transparency in reasoning and scoring in Guernsey, and questions over the rationality of the evaluation and scoring in Guernsey. Advocate Adkins called it a "startling result" to award the contract to a provider he said "cannot provide a safe service."

The States were represented by Crown Advocate Penny Grainge, who acknowledged the Committee for Health and Social Care's decision was amenable to judicial review but argued there were no manifest errors in the process, disputing Gama's second and third grounds. She said scoring was conducted in line with published procurement policy and that the "scores and the scoring matrix speak for themselves." Advocate Grainge provided commercial scoring details showing 247 Aviation scored more points than Gama Aviation in categories including spare aircraft and sustainability, as well as resilience, risk management, and the ability to carry bariatric patients. She confirmed Gama was given an opportunity to strengthen its bid but 247 Aviation still achieved a higher overall score. The hearing is continuing.

Contested public-service tenders like this one turn on whether an evaluation process can withstand scrutiny after the fact, not just on which bidder ultimately wins. When an incumbent operator loses a recompete, judicial review becomes the mechanism for testing procurement transparency and scoring rationality rather than the underlying safety claims themselves.

Air ambulance contracts are scored against detailed matrices covering categories such as spare aircraft availability, sustainability, resilience, risk management, and specialised capabilities like bariatric patient transport — figures that a losing bidder can only contest by pointing to process flaws, since the States has already disclosed the comparative scores. Gama's decision to press three distinct grounds, spanning both a late requirements change in Jersey and scoring conduct in Guernsey, reflects how thin the legal avenues are once a scoring matrix has been published and defended as policy-compliant.

The next milestone is the continuation of the hearing and whatever ruling the Royal Court issues on the three grounds raised, which will determine whether the December start date for 247 Aviation's contract proceeds as scheduled.